Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1: How to open the Options Window

Did you know there are three ways to open the options window? 

The options window is the single interface for controlling all aspects of Window Clippings. It is a tabbed window that allows you to specify what you want it to do with captured images, whether you want an icon to appear in the notification area, whether you want to include window shadows, and much more. It is also where you register Window Clippings using your license key. So naturally it is important to know how to find the options window!

Window Clippings will by default show an icon in the notification area. The simplest way to show the options window is to right-click this icon and select “Options” from the context menu that appears.

If you have chosen to hide the icon you still have a few more options. You can right-click the capture screen itself and select “Options” from its context menu. Finally you can use the “/options” command line argument to show the options window directly:

windowclippings.exe /options

Stay tuned for more “How to ...” articles.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings: A note to Microsoft employees

It looks like the public mail servers used for receiving mail sent to @microsoft.com addresses are regularly blocking the emails that are sent automatically with your Window Clippings license keys. In these cases I need to manually send an email with your license key.

The anti-spam content filter is kind enough to let me know when they refuse to deliver the automated messages but it might take a few hours before you receive your license key. (I might be sleeping when you place your order!) Feel free to contact me directly if you haven’t received your license key.

Anyway, I’m sorry for any inconvenience due to the delay. I’ll hopefully figure out what’s offending the anti-spam filter soon. If anyone from Microsoft ITG/MSIT is reading this then here’s what a license email looks like (the email contains only text with no attachments, images or markup):

From: info@windowclippings.com
Subject: Your Window Clippings 2.1 License

Thank you for your purchase!

To register Window Clippings simply enter the following information on the About tab of the Window Clippings Options window:

Email address: <your email address appears here>
License key: <your license key appears here>

Enjoy!

Should you have any questions or concerns simply reply to this email and I will be more than happy to assist.

Cheers,
Kenny Kerr

http://www.windowclippings.com/

Beef Up Windows Apps with the Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack

Back in December of last year the Visual C++ team asked me to write an article for MSDN Magazine about the new Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack. Well the article has finally made it into print in the May 2008 issue and you can also read it online.

C++ Plus: Beef Up Windows Apps with the Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack

As a developer using Visual C++ , you may have felt a bit left behind in recent years as it seems like Microsoft has added more new features and functionality to Visual C#® than to Visual C++®. The truth is that although the Visual C++ compiler has continued to improve in a variety of areas including performance, security, and standards conformance, little has been done in the way of new library and productivity features for quite some time. And while MFC was updated to better support Windows Vista®, more could have been done. Now, however, to better support developers who use native code and MFC in particular, Microsoft has released the Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack. Here's your evidence of a renewed commitment to Visual C++.

Enjoy!

If you’re looking for one of my previous articles here is a complete list of them for you to browse through.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Special offer for Paint.NET users

To promote the new integration between Paint.NET and Window Clippings, Rick and I are offering a special deal to Paint.NET users. For the month of May we’re offering Window Clippings at a special discounted price!

You should see this offer when you install or upgrade Paint.NET 3.31. If you’ve already upgraded you can just hop over to Rick’s blog to take advantage of this special offer.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1: Send to Paint.NET

Earlier this week I hinted at a surprise new feature that was introduced with the 2.1.28 build of Window Clippings. I can now tell you what it is!

Rick Brewster and I collaborated to enable seamless integration between Window Clippings and Paint.NET. Assuming you have the latest release of Window Clippings (2.1.28 or later) and the latest release of Paint.NET (3.31 or later), Window Clippings will offer a brand new add-in called Send to Paint.NET.

Last year I showed how you can use the Window Clippings “Post-save event” feature to send images to Paint.NET. This is a useful feature that lets you run any command after an image is saved to disk. It can be used to send images to any program.

The new Send to Paint.NET add-in makes it even easier by sending images directly to Paint.NET without first having to save it to a file. Window Clippings will automatically figure out where Panit.NET is installed so there’s not even any configuration involved. Not only that, but the image is treated as a new “untitled” image as if it was automatically copied and pasted directly into Paint.NET.

Download Window Clippings here: http://www.windowclippings.com/

Download Paint.NET here: http://www.getpaint.net/

Enjoy!

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1.28

As usual, you can get the update via the “Check for Updates” button on the About tab. New users can download the latest version from http://www.windowclippings.com/.

To get “Check for Updates” to work behind an HTTP proxy, you can use the use the “netsh winhttp” command on Windows Vista or the “proxycfg” command on Windows XP. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. The next major version of Window Clippings includes a brand new HTTP foundation with automatic proxy detection and configuration.

This build includes a few improvements:

Much better support for DPI scaling on Windows Vista.

Fixes in the capture screen on Windows Vista when using the selection rectangle.

There is also a surprise new feature which I’ll introduce in a day or two (to coincide with the release of another related product). Stay tuned.

I hope you enjoy using Window Clippings!

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings Website Redesign

I finally got around to updating the Window Clippings website with a fresh new look. I’ve tried to keep it simple and easy to use.

I hope you like it!

Windows with C++: Windows Imaging Component (Part 1)

My latest column is now available in the April 2008 issue of MSDN Magazine. This is part 1 of a 3 part series about the Windows Imaging Component that ships with Windows Vista as well as the .NET Framework 3.0 and later.

Windows with C++: Windows Imaging Component Basics

This month I'll show you how to use WIC to encode and decode different image formats and a few things in between. Next time I'll explore some of the more advanced features and show you how to extend WIC with your own imaging codecs.

Enjoy!

If you’re looking for one of my previous articles here is a complete list of them for you to browse through.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1: How to Capture Menus and Other Interactive Effects

One of the more popular features that Window Clippings provides is the ability to capture menus, tooltips as well as other interactive effects that applications may produce. Here’s how it’s done.

Let’s imagine I want to capture this Explorer window along with the popup menu that is visible when I right click on the drive:

If you launch the Window Clippings capture screen the popup menu disappears automatically since Explorer lost the input focus.

Keep in mind that the capture screen doesn’t show a copy of your desktop. It is actually a powerful view of your live desktop so that you can see any changes that might occur in the background.

To include the popup menu in the captured image you need to take advantage of an option called Delay before capture that is available on the Image tab of the Options window. To get there simply right click the Window Clippings icon and select Options from the menu (if the capture screen is already visible you can simply right click the capture screen and select Options):

Now select the Image tab and set “Delay before capture” to the number of seconds that you would like to have in order to prepare the “scene” for capture:

Now click the OK button to save the change and double click the Window Clippings icon again to show the capture screen. Now simply double click the Explorer window:

You will notice a fading message in the bottom right corner of your screen’s work area indicating how much time remains before Window Clippings will take the shot:

 It is at this point that you should display the popup menu, or any other effect that you would like to capture. When the timer reaches zero Window Clippings will capture the selected window and any associated popup windows that it detects.

Here is the result:

Note: although there are standard approaches available to developers for displaying different types of popups, some applications use non-standard approaches which aren’t always very easy to detect. Window Clippings 2.1 does a good job of capturing the most common types of popups but there is still room for improvement. The upcoming release of Window Clippings will continue to improve in this area.

Stay tuned for more “How to ...” articles.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1: How to Include a Disabled Parent Window

In my last “how to” article I showed how you can select multiple windows with Window Clippings by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking additional windows. You may however come across a window that is disabled and thus cannot be selected. By far the most common reason for this is when an application is displaying a modal dialog box and the parent window is then disabled until the dialog box is closed.

Let’s start again with the capture screen:

Here you can see the Calculator application with its modal “About” dialog box.

To include the parent window simply hold down the Shift key while clicking or double clicking the “About Calculator” window. Window Clippings will automatically include the parent in the selection:

And here’s the result:

Stay tuned for more “How to ...” articles.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr